Last night will always be remembered for the carnage that was brought about by Shane Watson at Wankhede. What looked like a promising first innings score being set up by SRH, turned out to be a comfortable one to chase. SRH started off the game on a tad slow note, but then picked up pace towards the middle overs to put up a respectable 178 on the score board. However, they made a few wrong decisions towards the end of first innings that in a way, put them behind CSK.
SRH were phenomenal throughout the season with the ball, their only weakness was their batting middle order before they came out for the big showdown. They would have thought that they finally overcame their shortcoming when Yousuf Pathan and Carlos Brathwaite fired massive sixes. But they missed the trick when they sent Deepak Hooda above Carlos Brathwaite. He is a kind of player who can start firing from the first ball itself. Had he got some four or five more deliveries to face, you never know, he could have smashed a few out of the ground. Sunrisers fell at least 10 runs short this way.
They started the second innings on a high with Bhuvi swinging the ball both ways and Sandeep Sharma trapping FAF early in the game. But after that started an array of blunders by SRH. While the bowlers didn’t perform as expected, there were a few flaws in Kane Williamson’s captaincy as well. On a track which is so close to the sea, there is ample breeze across the stadium to effectively swing the ball. SRH played three swing bowlers apart from Bhuvi, but all of them missed the trick. Knowing that Shane Watson struggles with spin bowling in the early stages, Williamson could have started with Rashid Khan from the other end with Bhuvi.
It’s all done and dusted now and all that can be done is that players learn from their mistakes. CSK showed great character throughout the tournament and truly deserved to win the title. An enthralling tournament came to an end with a rather one sided final, but there were moments which will go down in the books of the history of cricket. It’s time for the international season to begin. Let’s hope to keep seeing quality cricket all around.
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